Romney’s plan would slow the recovery and cost us jobs

July 27, 2012

Today we learned that the economy grew for the 12th straight quarter, exports and business investment continue to grow, and the auto industry is growing stronger. But President Obama knows that we need more decisive action to create jobs and help the economy grow faster.

Last September, President Obama put forward a detailed legislative plan—the American Jobs Act—to do just that. The jobs plan would keep teachers, firefighters, and police officers on the job, put construction workers back to work, and cut taxes for small businesses that hire and invest and businesses that bring jobs home. But Republicans in Congress have blocked this plan. As a result there are now 1 million Americans who are unnecessarily out of work.

Governor Romney also opposes this jobs plan, saying it was like "throwing a cup of gasoline on embers." But independent economists disagree—and they say that Mitt Romney’s plan would slow our recovery and cost us jobs. Romney himself acknowledges that spending cuts will damage the recovery. As economist Jeff Liebman has written, based on Romney’s own statements, his plan would cost over 1 million jobs next year.

Romney’s plan for the economy—including tax cuts weighted towards the wealthy and rolling back Wall Street reform—would do nothing to create jobs today, and instead would return us to the failed policies that dug this ditch in the first place.